Ravenous
by D'ArcofNeo
Summary: A mission gone wrong would lead Jaune to experience that there were more than Grimm that humanity has to be wary off.
1. Chapter 1

The horde of black filled the horizon as far as he can see.

Countless bloodthirsty roars echoed from the distance as the horde of Grimm advance towards them. Grimm of all sizes and shapes untied for one purpose; that is to hunt those who trespassed their domain—namely them.

Jaune Arc frowned as he inspected his group. Most of them were almost near their limits. Ruby was breathing hardly and her partner Weiss was exhausted from using all those Glyphs. Blake was shaking from fear and exhaustion; no doubt, her fear came from the roar of whatever creatures lurked in the shadows. Having Faunus senses had its downsides as well. Yang had collapsed from overusing her semblance countless scratches littered her skin.

Team CRDL was in need of assistance too. Russell and Dove were trying their best to steady their breathing. Sky was resting from his grievous wounds that would be the death of him if not treated. Cardin was with him in the front, taking out any Grimm that tried to get closer.

His own team was not faring better. Pyrrha's shield was broken from an encounter with a Tyrant and it was too risky to charge with only a sword; instead, she provided help with her rifle, shooting targets from a distance. Nora was low on aura and she cannot waste any more energy if she wanted to protect her partner. Ren was out of breathe and ammo. His knife-guns were not suited for taking out so many Grimm and lacked the firepower.

They had no hopes of recovering this settlement from the Grimm.

"Our transport will arrive any moment now," he said to his group. "Help the survivors while I hold the line."

His group looked like they wanted to tell something, but refrained—they know him too much. They knew that once Jaune set his mind on something, he would do it. It was an idiotic and admirable trait, and it was because of this that he faked his way to Beacon.

"I know what you guys want to say," he smiled at them. "I appreciate the concern, but there's no need. I can still handle a hundred of them or so."

If those words came from him from the past, not one of them would believe. However, things had changed over three years. What was once the weakest in Beacon was now one of the most formidable opponents anyone could find.

I'm so taking a vacation after this.

Jaune smiled at the thought as he charged at the herd of Ursa approaching their location. A simple bash from his shield sent one flying and a slice from his sword cut another one. Jaune parried a claw strike with his shield and stabbed the Ursa at the throat.

Truth was that he was also at his limits.

He had been at his limits a few hours ago. He was just as tired as they were, but he did not show it. His group didn't need to think that they could not hold out any longer. He maintained his appearance for the sake of strengthening their spirits.

At least he only needs to keep up his façade for another few minutes or so—the Bullhead had already arrived and the survivors from the settlement were boarding one by one.

A roar made him place his shield defensively in front of him. An Ursa Prime had struck. He gritted his teeth and pushed down the beast with all his might. His sword buried its length between the middle of the creature's eyes.

Jaune stared forward and grimaced.

The horde was advancing—thousands of Grimm marched, they will not allow their prey to escape.

Jaune looked behind him. Only half of the survivors have boarded. At this rate, the Grimm will catch up and they will get swarmed, along with their transport.

He needs to buy them some time.

He released a cry to attract the attention of the Grimm. He charged through them, plowing his way to kill anything that came in his sight. It was effective; the Grimm had their attention on him. Jaune continued his assault.

A bullet passed through the side of his head. He turned around—

It was Cardin.

That former bully had changed his ways after that even in Forever Fall. At first, no one believed him, but Cardin proved that he and his team changed for the better. He defended Faunus from those others who bullied them and apologized to those that he bullied in the past. By the end of their second year, CRDL was already close enough to hang out with teams RWBY and JNPR.

"Don't think that you'd be on the spotlight alone, Arc!"

The brunette said as he smashed his opponent with his mace. Jaune chuckled and stabbed the Beowolf in his left. The two of them fought side by side and eradicated everything that tried to get past them.

Jaune turned and saw that the rest of CRDL had already boarded the transport; they were calling for them,

He turned his head on the other direction and saw that the heavyweight Grimm had finally arrived. Giant Deathstalkers, Tyrants, Grendels, Goliaths and other variety of large Grimm had finally caught up to them. If one of those gets near the transport all would be over.

"I'll hold them back, run!"

Cardin hesitated but followed his orders.

Jaune dodged an attack from the stinger of a Deathstalker and slowly retreated. His teammates had open fired and helped eliminate other small fries that escaped him. Cardin took care of two Ursa Major before he boarded.

The Bullhead started its engine.

Jaune blocked a swipe from Grendel and ran towards the transport. He could see his friends yelling at him to move his ass quickly. He rolled his eyes but complied. The Bullhead was already ten meters above the ground, he could jump that high. However, the problem behind him remains—

His thoughts were violently interrupted when a swipe from the Tyrant's tail hit him on the side.

He grunted in pain as the spikes from the tail pierced his body and crushed some of his ribs. The world around him became a blur. Jaune's aura was already low to begin with, so the wound did not heal as fast as usual.

By the time his vision returned, Jaune saw that the Tyrant ignored him and instead charged towards the Bullhead.

"GO!"

He yelled towards them. He could see their stupefied expressions. Ruby tried to jump off but her partner stopped her. It seems that Weiss had already decided. He could see the reluctance on the heiress' eyes, but he knew that she knew what was at stake.

The others followed but the ones they rescued pleaded.

Finally, the pilot had decided and activated the thrusters. The Bullhead barely dodged the terrible jaws of the Tyrant. It soared into the orange sky and disappeared within seconds from his sight. Jaune smiled but inside his heart, he knew it was over.

He was alone.

He felt the eyes of the countless Grimm lock on him.

He did not even bother to grab his weapons. He had reached his limit.

A cold sensation assaulted his chest as the horde of darkness surrounded him. He had thought that he had rid himself of this fear once he was able to kill a King Taijitu in the past.

He was wrong.

His fear of the Grimm—of death—did not vanish. It was simply buried behind the back of his mind.

However, when faced alone with these monsters, his fears returned.

His friends were not there to support him.

He was alone.

Jaune stared around him and wondered why the horde of Grimm had not taken a step to devour him.

They only stared at his weak form.

He wondered if the Grimm wanted him to feel fear, to beg before ultimately killing him.

If that was the case then they were free to try. He would not succumb to their trap.

His musings stopped when he heard them finally moved. He glanced at them and saw that the countless Grimm parting as if some royalty was passing. He snorted at the thought and continued to stare to the one who would bring his death.

What he saw would forever haunt his dreams.

A pair of blood red eyes stared directly at him. He could not see its outline for once his gaze fell on it he felt something.

His head throbbed with pain as the _thing_ tried to wrestle control over his body.

Once he stared at _its_ eyes, he immediately understood what _it_ wanted.

No. No. No!

He could feel it entering his body and forcibly taking control.

Once it reached his mind, memories of his friends resurfaced.

The _thing_ wanted to destroy them.

He would not allow it!

Jaune screamed in agony as the creature forcibly invaded his mind, his hands clawed his face and an inhuman sound escaped his lips.

It was winning.

NO!

It would destroy everything.

He would not allow that.

His body thrashed in pain, but he did not falter.

In a desperate last resort, he called to the remnants of his aura.

Everything went dark.

Then there was pain.


	2. Chapter 2

Kathleen was in deep trouble.

The nineteen-year-old Faunus ran on an alley and jumped over the metal fence. She could hear the pursuers behind her follow, and this only made her run even faster. She cursed her luck as she climbed a wall with the help of her claws. She knew very well how dangerous the streets could get at night, yet she still threw away caution to the wind the moment she heard news about the survivors of the Lobo settlement. She went into the nearest police station to request confirmation for a few names but the process took some time and by the time they told her to return the next day, it was already dark.

Maybe she should have taken that man's offer to drive her home.

Then again, she didn't like the look on that guy's eyes. Her gut feeling had never failed before.

Now, her gut feeling was telling her was she was in trouble.

Kathleen reached the roof and jumped on the other side of the block. She landed on a dark alley full of trash and odorous smell. She got up and calmed her beating heart. She wasn't very good in the stamina department.

It was then that she noticed that she was not alone.

On the other side, leaning against the vandalized wall and sitting on the ground was a person. He wore a dark windbreaker with hood that hid most of his form. The only part of his body that she could see was his pale-white hands that had red tribal tattoo on the forearms.

Great, must be a drunk or homeless man.

Kathleen was about to leave and not bother the potentially dangerous man when she heard several footsteps closing. Gasping, Kathleen hid in the shadows, thanking her fashion-sense of dark colored clothes. She slowed her breath and did not dare to make any unnecessary movements.

A moment later, four men arrived on the alley. They were the group that had been chasing her, she doubt that it was for anything good. The leader—a thug with blonde Mohawk—scanned the area and saw the figure of that guy with the hoodie.

"Hey pal, did'cha catch a Faunus run this way? Thief stole my wallet."

Kathleen suppressed a growl at the blatant lie. This is why she hated humans. Sure, some of them may be sympathetic to the Faunus, but majority were assholes with this group being the prime example. She had no doubt that they would unspeakable things when they caught her.

The mysterious man did not reply or even acknowledged their presence.

"Boss, that dude looks pretty wasted," a fat-ass guy with brown hair spoke.

"Tch! Search this area, she had nowhere to run!"

Kathleen's heart pounded in fear as the group of thugs grabbed their respective switchblades and began to search the vicinity. There were no other people aside from them and the wasted guy, no one would be able to help her if they catch her. She doubted that anyone would in the first place.

She silently moved deeper in the shadows to avoid them. The skinny guy almost passed her but paused and turned the other way. Kathleen thanked the heavens that humans did not have night visions. Now she understands why Faunus won the battle at Fort Castle. Kathleen continued to move deeper and wondered why the four men suddenly grouped in the middle and seem to be whispering to one another.

A shiver ran down her spine when the four of them threw their gazes at her direction.

She had been found out!

She tried to escape but there were no other routes except the ones blocked by the group. The group approached her with matching leers and Kathleen was frozen in fear. It was only thanks to her instincts that she used her claws to scratch the fat man in the face. The man hissed in pain and grabbed her offending arm. He pulled her and secured both of her arms behind her. Kathleen winced as the leader of the group slapped her and waved his knife in front of her.

"Well well, aren't you a pretty face?" he sneered.

"Scream and something bad will happen," said the skinny man.

Kathleen shivered as the cold blade was forced onto her cheek, drawing some blood. Her body trembled in fear as she stared at the other three who were checking her out.

"Lucky! Look at her body!"

The leader placed his hand on her neck and let it wander down to her chest. This time, Kathleen couldn't help but scream.

"HELP!"

*Pa*

She was silenced by a slap. The next thing she knew was that the leader had ripped her shirt and there was a knife pressed to her neck. Tears involuntary escape from her eyes as several thoughts ran around her head.

Was this her fate, alone in the mercy of these despicable beings?

Kathleen desperately prayed for a miracle to happen. She wished the people in front of her dead, anything just to save her from this situation. She stared at the leader and then froze at the sight that greeted her.

They were red.

Behind the ugly leering face of the leader was a pair of red eyes glowing. Kathleen's night vision allowed her to see the figure standing behind her assaulters. From the looks of it, the fat guy who restrained her also saw it.

"Bo-BOSS!"

Before the leader could even react, a pale hand grabbed his Mohawk and lifted him to the air. He struggled in yelped in pain, and then suddenly he was thrown in the wall. His two henchmen froze before they simultaneously attacked the red-eyed figure with their knives. The figure didn't bother dodging and just grabbed their hands and crushed it with a sickening sound.

Their cries of pain echoed in the alleyway.

The fat guy finally let go of her and the first thing Kathleen did was kick him in the balls and scratch his face several times. She then heard the sound of punches and when she looked behind her, the two henchmen have already collapsed with a large bruise forming on their faces.

She turned towards her savior and suppressed a shiver. His terrifying eyes looked at the unconscious figure below him and then turned to her. She remained rooted in the spot wondering if she escaped the pan only to be thrown in the fire.

Fortunately, the red-eyed figure turned around and started to walk away.

Unfortunately, that was the time a police car chose to appear, Kathleen shielded her eyes from the bright lights. A police officer got off the car and pointed at gun at them, another one remained on the vehicle.

"Freeze! Put your hands up in the air!"

Instead of stopping and doing what the police officer said, the red-eyed figure continued to walk away. Kathleen turned to the police officers with the intent to explain but paused when she heard the sound of air rippling. She turned to the place where her savior was walking only to see nothing but dust.

Instinctively, her eyes looked up and what she saw made her body shiver.

At the apex of his jump, the hood that covered her savior's face earlier had been blown off by the wind. Dark hair swayed erratically as the red markings on the side of his pale face seem to glow even when there was no moon. It was only thanks to her night vision that she saw the breathtaking form of the mysterious man.

Ravenous

Life at Beacon continued even after the tragedy. Students that were sent at the Lobo settlement chose to not accept any more missions after their last one. Even though the mission to rescue the survivors was a success, the price paid was too heavy. One of their comrades was left behind at the mercy of humanity's sworn enemy. They tried their best to think that his death had been quick and painless, but despite that, they could not fathom what their comrade had felt on his last moments.

News quickly spread. That Jaune Arc, the leader of team JNPR, the man with the strongest defense in their school, had died sacrificing himself, so that the mission would become successful. Even when most of the students did not know him, the gloomy atmosphere remained. For one of their comrades had fallen at the hands of their enemies. Only a few months away from graduation.

Teachers reminded them of their mortality and as to why they must sacrifice to fight the evil that has consumed their world—because they were humanity's last line of defense.

Some resolve grew stronger, some were reduced as they thought that the life of a Hunter is as not glorious as they had first imagined. All of this were because of one man's death. One man's cruel end on the hands of hundreds of Grimm.

Teams that had been close to Jaune Arc took it the hardest. They had abandoned their friend on humanity's nightmare.

Pyrrha had been inconsolable. She had viewed Jaune as her dearest friend, even a lover at some point of her life. His death would always remind her of her failure as his partner, that even when she was hailed as the strongest of their year, she was powerless to save him.

Ren had mourned the loss of his brother in all but blood. He may have not shown it, but he had been close enough with his leader to consider him as honorary part of the Lie family and the sole male friend that he could share his antics with.

Nora had been reduced into a gloomy girl without Jauney to banter with. The hyperactive girl would always remember him for being with her whenever they fail tests or make explosions on their Dust classes. Now, her partner in pranks is gone and would never return.

Cardin felt guilty for abandoning the friend that believed in him even when others doubted his sincerity. He felt that he should have stayed and fought with him, despite what his teammates say. Jaune Arc died as a hero. He died protecting people living up to the name of his family.

Yang would miss her fellow blonde and the only person who could take a punch to the face without staggering or fainting. He had been a good friend that helped her team whenever they had an argument or whenever she needed a sparring partner.

Blake would never forget the help that the leader of team JNPR provided her when they fought off the White Fang. He always seemed ready to help anyone in need. It's rather ironic that he died without ever having one to aid him.

Weiss may have acted composed, but deep inside, she felt mildly responsible for Jaune's death. She was the one who decided to make the Bullhead leave him, and the one who convince her teammates that they would come back for him. She knew the risks and still abandoned her comrade.

But out of all of them, it was Ruby that felt the most devastated. She had changed from the little girl during her first year. Beside from the physical changes of her body that rivaled Yang's, she had also matured mentally. She knows that she could not become the hero and save everyone, but she believed that she would be, at the least, save those who are precious to her. Jaune's death had affected her as much as her mother's.

What was the use of her speed when she could not use it to help anyone in time.

Jaune Arc's death had affected his friends, and the worst thing is that, he is not even aware of the hurting of the people that he had wanted to protect.

Ravenous

He opened his eyes and found himself in a strange place.

The events that transpired last night suddenly flew to him and now he remembered what he was doing here. After the incident, he left the scene and searched for another place to spend his time—one that won't be easily discovered by people. In the end, he settled for the abandoned construction site that was off limits to everyone, well, everyone except him.

His name what was it supposed to be again? He racked his brain for the answer but only fragmented memories returned, not enough to remind him of who he was, but enough to start his quest of learning what happened to him.

Why had he woken on that destroyed settlement a week ago?

Why did the Grimm avoided him instead of ripping his body with their claws and teeth?

How did he manage to do what he did?

So many questions yet no definite answers, his head doesn't have much memories but he can still remember their faces. Who were they? Those figures with countless eyes of color similar to his own. Could they be his enemies? Were the ones who turned him into this… abomination?

He walked in front of a broken glass and removed his hood.

Red eyes stared back at him.

Seeing his own appearance made him uneasy. He did not know whether he had always looked like this but he could sense the wrongness just from staring at himself. Just who is he? His hand clenched into fist and buried itself on the wall beside him; the red markings shone ominously as he felt the others to start up in response. The urge to destroy and devour filled him but a presence on his mind seem to stop the urge from taking over— **Obliterate. Devastate. Annihilate. Extinguish. Eradicate. Exterminate. Remove. Eliminate. Consume. Devour. **

And then— Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain. Pain.

His hands shot up to his head as he roared from the searing pain that seem to split his head in two. He thrashed around and ripped whatever his hands could touch. He could hear the screeching inside his mind and it felt like burning swords being stabbed on his brain.

He spent the whole night roaring in pain.

**So, yeah, I'm continuing this after a long, long break. I promise to update, but probably not that fast. I'm using a tablet after all. Anyway, I changed the chapter ending, removing Kath's arc for the better, although she would appear again some time. There's no definite pairings, but I'm leaning a bit on Lancaster or Awkward Kitty (Is it how it's called?)**


End file.
